Intermountain Healthcare's Online COVID-19 Tool Surpasses 80k Users

Salt Lake City, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/26/2020 -- More than 80,000 people have used Intermountain Healthcare's COVID-19 Symptom Checker since it was launched one week ago on March 19.

The Intermountain Symptom Checker is a free online, artificial intelligence (AI) powered tool that's available to the public on the Intermountain Healthcare website to help people assess their risk for COVID-19 and determine the most appropriate care setting for their condition, if needed. The Intermountain Symptom Checker is continuously updated based on the US Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

About half of those using the Intermountain Symptom Checker had no risk or very low risk. Nearly forty percent were directed to a telephone or telehealth visit where they could be further screened. Self-quarantine was recommended for nine percent of users.

Most individuals did not have risk factors that required testing at one of 22 drive-thru locations that Intermountain Healthcare has set up throughout much of Utah.

"By using the online COVID-19 Symptom Checker and then screening with telephone and telehealth services, we've been able to greatly reduce the number of unnecessary visits to clinics and hospitals," said Todd Vento, MD, medical director of Intermountain Healthcare's TeleHealth Infectious Disease Service.

"And for the 'worried well,' or those people that might have questions or concerns but aren't feeling ill, the Symptom Checker has been very helpful in providing an accurate and reliable source of medical information," said Dr. Vento.

Intermountain Healthcare is a not-for-profit system of 24 hospitals, 215 clinics, a Medical Group with 2,500 employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians, a health insurance company called SelectHealth, and other health services in Idaho, Utah, and Nevada. Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes and sustainable costs. For more information, see Intermountain Healthcare.

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